Category Archives: Space

The crowded sky

It was lonely out there in the black when Sputnik started beeping away fifty years ago today. Now it’s so crowded that a Sputnik-like robot on a 9-year trip to Pluto has to imitate its ancestor’s speech just to get through the radio traffic.

Today’s pretty picture

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Let’s take a break from Longhorns football. At just 210,000 light years away, this little companion galaxy to the Milk Way–the Small Cloud of Magellan–would make the perfect weekend getaway–certainly better than watching Oklahoma romp this Saturday. 

Space is a (more dangerous) place

New results of space shuttle research on bacteria has ominous implications. People get weaker in microgravity and have to exercise like crazy just to retain their normal health. But that same microgravity makes Salmonella typhimurium bacteria more virulent. The researchers say the finding might help them concoct new treatments for infections from the bug here on the ground. They probably also better be thinking about this new danger for already-impaired people out in the black.

Einstein in 2nd grade

What did you learn about in school today, I asked Mr. Boy. Einstein, he said. Einstein? In second grade? What did they say he was famous for? Mr. B. couldn’t remember. No kidding. There are plenty of adults who couldn’t tell you anything about E.’s work, other than that he was a genuis, etc. Well, there is, I said, his Theory of Relativity, but most adults would be hard-pressed to explain it. The only part I know about is this: You can’t fly to the moon in a straight line. Because space is curved. (I hope I got that right. With the ToR, you can never be sure.) Wow, said Mr. B, that is cool. It is, too. And, last month, some astronomers used it to measure some really far away neutron stars.

Man in space

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An old picture, but still an inspiring one. It’s been tedious and slow since the moon landings, but, in historical terms (geological ones, if you like) we’re on our way. 

Today’s pretty picture

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Don’t you wish your eyes were cameras, with filters and digital enhancement? No?  

Walnut-shaped moon

The Cassini robot spacecraft has flown by Iapetus, the strange, two-toned moon of Saturn, and the data will be rolling in and being analyzed for weeks to come.